How HRT Saved My Sanity

From barely functioning to my first migraine-free month in four years.

There was a point where I could barely function.

My migraines had spiraled so far out of control that I was just... existing. Waiting for the next one to hit. Managing pain instead of living my life. By the time my PCP's office finally got insurance approval for a preventative migraine medication, I was desperate.

It took about two weeks on that med for the cycle to finally break. And once I could think clearly again — once I was actually functioning — I started reading. Really reading. About perimenopause. About what was happening to my body.

And that's when the pieces started falling into place.

The "zone of chaos"

The migraines weren't the only thing. They were just the loudest thing.

Once I started connecting the dots, I realized that so many of my symptoms were related to perimenopause — often called the "zone of chaos" for what it does to our hormonal balance.

The heat intolerance. Anything above 65 degrees and my face flushes red and I start sweating. Not a cute little glow. Full-on, visibly overheated, people-asking-if-I'm-okay-because-my-face-went-from-white-to-red-to-purple sweating.

The rage. I hadn't experienced irritability like this in years. I would swing from having a good time to full-blown rage that I couldn't kick no matter what I tried. It wasn't situational. It wasn't proportional. It was just there, hijacking my mood without warning.

The depression. I'd maintained a decent balance for years, but peri hit and my depression worsened. Significantly. I've dealt with it long enough to know it was getting dangerously bad.

The sleep. I used to be a good sleeper. With proper wind-down time, a cool dark room, and some nighttime tea (I'm partial to the one from Trader Joe's), I would sleep 8-9 hours no problem. Then peri wreaked havoc on my body. It became a struggle to fall asleep — and an even bigger struggle to stay asleep.

The skin. My dry facial skin had aged so much in three years that it was noticeable. Not subtle. Noticeable.

The brain fog. Words I used to find easily were suddenly... gone. Thoughts I was mid-sentence on would evaporate. I felt like I was losing my mind.

All of it. All of it was connected.

What I didn't know yet — what nobody told me — was that treating the hormonal root of all this wouldn't just help each symptom individually. It would make everything else I was already doing work better too. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

"You shouldn't use HRT"

Here's the thing: I had been told by a physician — years earlier — that I shouldn't use hormone replacement therapy because my mother is a breast cancer survivor.

That was the end of the conversation. No nuance. No discussion of my personal risk factors. Just: your mom had breast cancer, so HRT isn't for you.

And I believed it. For years.

But the books I was reading — especially Dr. Mary Claire Haver's The New Menopause — told a different story. They explained the erroneous conclusions from a study in the early 2000s (the Women's Health Initiative) that had scared an entire generation of women and doctors away from HRT. The headlines had been misleading. The data had been misinterpreted. And millions of women had suffered unnecessarily as a result.

I'm not saying HRT is right for everyone. But I am saying that many of us were denied even the conversation because of outdated, fear-based information.

Taking the leap with Winona

I had seen ads for an online telehealth company called Winona, so I decided to try it. I figured, why not — it's not like I'm getting any help or understanding from my young female PCP.

The process was surprisingly easy. You fill out an online intake form about your symptoms and medical history — it took me maybe 10 minutes. And I got a response from a board-certified physician in my state within 30 minutes — on a Sunday afternoon. She answered my questions, walked me through my options, approved a treatment plan, and I received my oral estradiol, DHEA, and progesterone the following Thursday.

Four days from intake to medication in hand. After years of being dismissed.

And here's something I wish I'd known before I even started looking into HRT: you can pay for Winona with your HSA. I use mine, and my prescriptions come in a 90-day supply on auto-ship. No pharmacy trips, no refill calls, no fighting with insurance. It just shows up at my door every three months. Easy.

Night one

The first night, I only took the progesterone at dinnertime.

And I slept four straight hours.

That might not sound like much. But if you've been waking up every 90 minutes, cycling through hot and cold, brain spinning with anxiety at 3am — four uninterrupted hours feels like a miracle.

What changed — and when

My Winona practitioner gave me realistic expectations on when to expect changes in my different symptoms. That was huge. I wasn't expecting overnight transformation, and that helped me stay patient with the process.

And unlike my PCP's office — where getting a response to a message felt like shouting into a void — I can message my Winona doctor anytime I need to. No appointment needed. No waiting weeks. When something felt off with my mood at the six-month mark, I messaged her and we adjusted my plan. They also send periodic check-in questionnaires — similar to how a PCP tracks depression and anxiety — to make sure the treatment is actually working. It's the kind of follow-up care I always expected from a doctor but never actually got.

Sleep improved first. The progesterone was the game-changer here. And once I was sleeping better, other things started working better too — like the lavender and orange essential oils I'd been using in a diffuser. I'd noticed they helped lessen my overall anxiety even before HRT, but they weren't super effective for sleep until I'd been on HRT for a few months. It was like my body finally had the foundation it needed for those other tools to actually work.

Mood took longer. After about six months, I was still experiencing some mood imbalance issues. We made a slight adjustment to my plan — and after that, I was doing well. Really well.

Migraines — the big one. After a year on HRT, I felt confident enough to wean off the preventative migraine medication. That was about five or six months ago.

And last month? I experienced my first full month with zero migraines in four years.

Four years.

What I wish I had known sooner

HRT is synergistic.

That's the word that keeps coming back to me. Synergistic. It means that especially for things like depression and anxiety, those types of medications work better for perimenopausal women when used alongside HRT. The hormones aren't just treating symptoms on their own — they're creating a foundation that helps everything else work more effectively.

I wish I had known this four years ago.

I wish someone had told me that the irritability, the sleep disruption, the brain fog, the skin changes, the heat intolerance, the worsening depression — that all of it could be connected. That there was a name for it. That there was treatment for it.

Instead, I spent years thinking I was broken. Thinking I was just bad at managing stress. Thinking I was aging poorly. Thinking my body had turned against me and there was nothing I could do but endure it.

Why I'm telling you this

Every woman is different. We each deserve a knowledgeable, trustworthy physician who can help us find the right treatment plan as we navigate this change.

It doesn't have to be miserable.

That's one of the reasons I launched this website. To hopefully save other women from a lengthy struggle before finding the right support for their peri transition. To share what I've learned — the hard way — so maybe you don't have to learn it the hard way too.

If you're reading this and something resonates — if you're in the zone of chaos and wondering if HRT might help — I hope you'll advocate for yourself. Read the research. Ask the questions. Find a provider who will actually listen.

Winona operates in over 35 states, and they've recently launched a community app with live doctor Q&As, events, and support groups for women going through this. I haven't tried the app myself yet, but I love that they're building community around this — because one of the hardest parts of perimenopause, for me at least, was feeling like I was going through it completely alone.

You deserve to feel like yourself again.

— Shea

Resources mentioned:

Winona — the telehealth platform I use for HRT. Personalized bioidentical hormone therapy prescribed by board-certified physicians, with free shipping, unlimited doctor messaging, and periodic check-ins to make sure your treatment is working. Prescriptions come in 90-day supplies on auto-ship, and treatments are FSA/HSA eligible.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase — at no extra cost to you.

I am not a medical professional. This is my personal experience and should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult with a healthcare provider about what's right for you.